Category: Journalist Report

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 20-FEB-2019 Sol 10

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: “Moonshine and Puzzle Fever”

Crew 205 decided to start a new project: The Mars Puzzle! It seems to be tradition that crews finish this puzzle while being at MDRS and we are planning not to be an exception!

Since yesterday the fever has spread among the crew and every free minute not spent working is used to finish the 1000 piece puzzle. We will not stop until we have finished it and we will keep you posted!

The crew journalist could not resist grabbing her camera last night and shot pictures from the tunnels around the Hab with the Moon lighting up the sky almost like daytime!

After a short night with an incomplete puzzle the crew woke up with new energy to start their day. Still the puzzle fever caught most of the crew during breakfast…

Our chef-de-cuisine Hannah and so-chef Dave prepared biscuits and gravy which was a new experience for most of the crew and all of us loved it!

For lunch we had Kartoffelgratin (translated potato casserole) prepared by Maria before we prepared for our EVA!

Shortly after Nathan, Natalia, Ghanim and Maria stepped out to make their way to the Candor Chasma to collect rock samples we realized that the rovers Opportunity and Spirit had not been charging for the past 3 days.

This meant the crew had to troubleshoot and wait until the rovers were at full charge before we could use them. A second attempt was performed at 1430 and with fully charged rovers we made our way down the road. At the end of Galileo road, we realized that the weather was changing, and the EVA crew decided to return immediately. After this short EVA the crew was welcomed by the support crew and an amazing looking lava cake.

The afternoon was packed with crew members filling out the surveys for the leadership project, the continuous care of the ISRU plants (happily still alive) and continued work on the puzzle, which is still bugging us…. But we promise that we will not rest today until it is done!

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 19-FEB-2019 Sol 9

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: “What Goes Up!”

Mars awaited our rising out of our crew quarters with beautiful sunshine through our windows. The smell of coffee was around the table while we prepared our breakfast: mainly oats and cereals.

The meal plan was already made by Hannah, our Chef de Cuisine: chocolate lava cake for tomorrow and salmon soup for lunch. The cake for today will be baked by Maria, and it is a German apple pie.

The crew’s commander is Ghanim, and as every day, he led us as we planned what we want to do. Therefore, people spread to do their tasks. Nathan and Dave’s second home became the science dome as they analyzed the newly found shell fossils and separated the rock samples to decide which ones are worth to bring back to Earth.

Natalia is working on guidelines for future crews. Crew 205 would like to give some help for future emerging space leaders.

Gus, our mascot, is still very active helping explain information about Mars and following crew members around. Maria made some progress with video editing and hopes to send out first videos by tomorrow. Veronica opened the first Mars gym in the downstairs area of the Hab so that crew members could work off the hushpuppies and Hannah’s amazing cooking in the last days.

Everyone is catching up on surveys.

Before the comms window Mars surprised us with one of its brightest Moons since we got here, it is glorious. Tomorrow will be another day on Mars and we can’t wait to discover more amazing DVD and CDs of the almost endless collection here in the Hab, we leave you with this title: “What goes up” Space, Trance, Transfusion.

Tomorrow a geographically inspired lava chocolate cake will await us! Ooh la la!

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 18-FEB-2019 Sol 8

Author: Dave Masaitis

Title: A Sol of Great Mystery

Sol 8 began as others have, with crew members emerging from quarters to start a tea kettle and make breakfast. Crew 205 quickly became inquisitive as they peered outside the portholes of our home to see a mysterious white precipitate covering the regolith ridges, with more falling from the sky. While it seemed to resemble snow on Earth, our previous understanding of Mars told us that the planet does not have enough water for such a weather phenomenon to be plausible. It was therefore imperative to treat this precipitate with suspicious caution, especially as it seemed to saturate the regolith and turn it to a rather slippery mud-type substrate. In the interests of crew safety, Commander Grulich reported to Mission Support and announced that our planned EVA would have to wait for another Sol.

Over breakfast, Commander Grulich and Executive Officer Alotaibi consulted with the crew to realign work priorities for a Sol at the Hab. The mysteries of Sol 8 did not stop there. GreenHab Officer Nathan Hadland was analyzing rock and substrate samples in the science dome, when he called on the radio for the crew to come look at something. He had found some samples that, when washed, appeared to be the fossilized shells of some form of invertebrate. Had the crew stumbled on an ancient sea bed while on EVA? By visual appearance, these certainly appeared to be fossilized shells but further testing would be required before any confirmations could be made. Given that some invertebrates on Earth make their shells from calcite, it seemed reasonable that testing a fossilized fragment with a diluted hydrochloric acid solution should create a reaction…and it did! Samples taken from a sampling site within a couple hundred meters of the fossilized shells rendered beautiful crystalline structures, which are suspected to be either halite or gypsum. Both of these pieces of evidence point initially to a region of planetary surface that may have once been an ancient sea bed, so further investigation will be required. While it is far too premature of a discovery to draw any firm conclusions, the mysteries of todays analysis prove even more interesting than the mysterious white precipitate falling from the sky. Are the two perhaps connected?

Some analysis of the fossils may continue into the evening, and the crew will enter its communications window to file their daily reports to Mission Support. Following this, the Commander and Executive Officer will discuss the crew’s priorities of work for Sol 9, before having a dinner of salmon and hushpuppies prepared by one of our more apt cooks, Communications Officer Hannah Blackburn. After dinner, we will likely engage in some table games or perhaps watch Apollo 13, before laying down to get some rest before another Sol.

Author: Natalia Larrea

Title: “Oh I will survive!”…. with the taste of cinnamon rolls and the sound of “Starman”

We woke up with the smell of fresh coffee and home-made cinnamon rolls made by our COMMS Officer (Hannah). Thanks to her and her excellent culinary skills, we are surviving in the Red Planet eating food as if we were back home on Earth (and even better I would say!). All the Crew sat down to enjoy breakfast all together as usual, but this time listening to the sound of Gloria Gaynor and her “I will survive” and David Bowie’s “Starman” from Dave’s (HSO) iPad. Full of energy, all the crew and our new Martian mascot “Gus” (found a couple of days ago on the Martian surface) started singing and dancing to the rhythm of these songs with big smiles on our faces. It was a great way to start our working day.

In the morning, the EVA team composed by Daniel (Commander), Veronica (ENG), Nathan (GHO), and Dave (HSO) left at 10.00 am driving Curiosity and Opportunity heading to the “Moon Area”. The team continued collecting geological samples over there, following the initial research performed a few days ago. They made further discoveries including some fossil shells and interesting igneous rocks with crystals hidden inside. Meanwhile, in the Hab, Maria (XO) supervised overall workflow and conducted sample inventory in the GreenHab and in the Science Dome. In the afternoon, we could see some clouds rising in the horizon. By 1.30 pm some snowflakes started hitting the ground. Since “Crew safety and security first” is our main motto in this mission, the team decided to cancel the EVA scheduled for the afternoon. We took the opportunity to continue working on our different projects and tidy the Hab. Nathan (GHO) spent the afternoon in the GreenHab and the Science Dome doing some regolith sample characterization, watering the plants, and taking care of the A. Thaliana -ISRUexperiment (it is truly exciting to see how some of the seeds are growing in Mars like soil!). Hannah (COMMS) worked on food inventory and other tasks while Satana’s music was playing on the background. Dave (HSO) and Natalia (MEDIA) had the chance learn more about astronomy and variable stars thanks to the explanations from Ghanim (ASTRO). Martian mascot “Gus” is also helping us around the base. He is assisting us in putting together some outreach videos – dedicated to all of you Earthlings out there following us – about our life in here and about Mars (to be released soon… stay tuned!). This afternoon was also a time for doing some fixing around the base. Vero (ENG), Dave (HSO) tighten some loose screws here and there and together with Maria (XO) they fixed some loose sheets in the tunnels tighten all the cable ties and discovered that one bigger sheet is lose over the science dome tunnel. Our leadership team for the day – Daniel (Commander) and Maria (XO) – finished the evening working on the daily reports and planning for tomorrow.

Today we completed Sol number 7. This has been an important milestone as it marks the middle of our mission. It has been one week since we started exploring these lands, adapting to this new life, overcoming daily challenges, and advancing admirably in our research projects. EVA suits now feel like a further extension of us. We have become much more efficient in our daily operations thanks to the new routine and processes that we have implemented together as a team. All the daily tasks around the base seem now to be part of our normal life. But above all, it has been one week since we became a “Martian family”. We can feel now how we have become a single unified team, driven by our shared-passion of conducting science and exploration, and supporting each other in all the steps along the way to achieve our mission goals. We have found a great balance between hard work and relax time, pushing our personal boundaries and advancing in our mission objectives. We have passed already one week here and we cannot wait to see what excitements the next days will bring!

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 16-FEB-2019 Sol 6

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: The Fellowship of Mars

Once upon a time there was a small hole in a ground, also known as the MDRS, in Hobbiton just reachable over one main airlock. It will take travelers a long way to reach that little door in the hills and not many people dare to make that journey across the desert, therefore Hobbiton was left alone and isolated. The habitants of Hobbiton lived peacefully for a long time before the shadows reached them and all EVAs seemed to have a curse to them.

Rumors rumbled in the underground and the powers of good in Middle Mars were wondering what curses begot these shadows.

Frodo, aka Ghanim, who lived in the Shire of MDRS in Hobbiton, got a ring on Valentine’s Day and it seems something was whispering during the night. Gandalf aka Atilla, a Wizard from the South, was a good friend of Frodo’s and had secret knowledge of the ring and he knew to whom this ring belongs: Sauron a witch master from the dark times. He who seems to manipulate all EVAs from the fire mountain on North Ridge. It seems he built a ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them. This ring has to be destroyed.

A secret meeting was held in MDRSshire and the Fellowship of Mars was formed. Together with Gandalf and master Elrond aka David, the powers of good of MDRS of Middle Mars, a mission was planned.

Today the Fellowship of Mars woke up ready to leave the shire of Hobbiton.

Four brave members of the Fellowship 205 dared to take that journey to conquer the fire mountain and to throw that ring into the fires where it was made so it cannot reach out with its power to Hobbiton and cancel more of our EVA’s.

The four members of the Fellowship of Mars were: Dave aka Gimli, Daniel aka Legolas, Nathan aka Sam and Ghanim aka Frodo. They left at 0930 this morning to conquer the fire mountain: North Ridge and to throw that ring into the fires where it was made.

Determined, they set off ready to face the devil that came from that mountain. With fast steps they reached the bottom of the mountain but half way up Frodo felt the burden of the ring. Sam stayed therefore with Frodo on the bottom to take more samples of that mountain to learn all about its geology to know what the Fellowship is dealing with. Gimli with his axe grew up in the mountains and Legolas with his elf feet could easily master the difficulties of the North Ridge. As the fastest of the group they decided at the end to go alone to make up the best way to bring Frodo and the ring up one day.

Once they reached the top the other four members of the Fellowship: Arwen aka Veronica, Eowen aka Hannah, Tauriel aka Maria, and Galadriel aka Natalia, observed the Fellowship and their successful return.

For the afternoon Arwen, Tauriel, Eowen and Galadriel had another mission to save Middle Mars. They wanted to take out the drone to take pictures of the land as there seemed to be another myth about a dragon in the mountains of kissing camels. The four girls of the Fellowship of Middle Mars were sent out to an observation mission. Arwen and Tauriel took Opportunity towards the mountains whereas Eowen and Galadriel took Spirit. Shortly after they left Hobbiton the EVA suit of Eowen had a problem which had to be fixed by Galadriel and Tauriel the two Elves of the group.

Once they reached the Kissing camels Eowen as the experienced mountain girl from North Carolina, lead the group up the mountain for Arwen to fly the drone over the land of Middle Mars. Tauriel had the task to document the terrain with pictures.

The rocks and the fog made it harder for the four to reach the summit, but after a while they found the secret path to take. Proud, they fulfilled their duty, they came back to the MDRSshire in Hobbiton to celebrate with mac and cheese, safe in the knowledge that the shadows are defeated for now.

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 15-FEB-2019 Sol 5

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: New Crew member…

Today we had no EVAs scheduled due to the rainy weather conditions of last night. This means we had time to focus on our science objectives and for the crew journalist to start to interviews the crew. Today’s commander is Nathan with Veronica as XO.

Yesterday Natalia found a Martian during the EVA! As we did not know if the Martian will be friendly or not, we had to keep the little guy in isolation. Today Natalia approached him and named him Gus. Gus seems to be a very friendly Martian and happy to follow us on all our activities.

In the morning Gus followed crew astronomer Ghanim around who explained to him everything about variable stars and how to observe them with the telescope we have here at the hab. Later on, he was very interested in the Science Dome and helped Nathan analyzing his rock samples.

In the Green Hab Gus checked out how we grow plants on Mars and how Dave is planting new seeds. Gus also learned how we maintain the Hab and the space suits by following Veronica around. The space suits were so interesting that Gus wanted to try one on and Hannah gave him a radio and Gus tried on a space suit. He also talked to Daniel and he learned everything about safety and what it takes to be a Mars astronaut.

Gus is now our newest crew member and you will see him around as he wants to learn more about our habitat and Mars.

Ad Astra!

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: Love, Bacon and Cookies – It’s Valentine’s Day

Today is a very special day for the crew! It’s the start of the leadership rotation and also it is Valentine’s Day!

The crew has prepared some cookies and our new commander and XO, Dave and Nathan prepared everyone a breakfast of eggs and bacon as a surprise for the crew. After watching The Martian last night, the crew is thinking on how Matt Damon solved the persistent problems with living on Mars. Now the crew is thinking how to germinate potatoes here!

Currently our most valuable resource is data. We solved the water problem by changing the way we clean dishes, so we are on one refill a day. Regarding the data, we still have to investigate the anomaly.

Today only one EVA was planned with the objective of flying the drone for the first time. The preparation went smoothly since we have fixed and inventoried the EVA suits. The crew composed of Natalia (GHO), Daniel (HSO), Veronica (ENG) and Maria (Media) stepped out at 1030 and the weather was cloudy, but stable with a slight wind. Directly after leaving the Hab, the drone was tested to see how it performs and it worked fine. After a couple of tests flights, it was decided to keep moving to a higher altitude to take pictures with the drone from there. After 10 more minutes in the weather conditions changed and it was decided to abort the EVA. It seems like the North Ridge is our curse. 3 EVAs planned there and three cancelations. The crew is still very determined to explore the North Ridge during this rotation.

After the short EVA, the crew found themselves with some free time which gave us the opportunity to exchange our Secret Cupid gifts. Every crew member brought a small gift for another crew member and it was exciting to see who picked whom and it was accompanied with heart shaped Martian cookies.

Today also gave time to start for the video project as well as the detailed categorization and analysis of the rock samples. On one of the rocks that was brought back from Candor Chasma, a skeleton was found. It is probably a skeleton from a scorpion which is a really interesting finding.

Tomorrow, there will be time for more indoor activities and outreach activities.

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 13-FEB-2019 Sol 2

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: Water, Water, Everywhere

After our Spanish night yesterday, the girls decided to open the first water-efficient hair wash salon on Mars. It felt like on Earth we just had to skimp on the extra products 🙂

After this, the crew woke up refreshed and ready to tackle another day on Mars, including another 4 hour EVA. Dave, Hannah, Veronica, and Nathan left at 10:25 to go towards Candor Chasma. Exploring the cannon, they found beautiful rocks which seemed to be perfectly smooth, a sign of past liquid water. Dave and Nathan seemed to be bighorn sheep in their former life climbing up the Martian mountains.

The team achieved all its objectives and even had time to take some pictures.

The Hab team checked all EVA suits and replaced several batteries to make sure that all EVA suits are working properly before going out.

At 15:00 the second EVA had the plan to go up the mountain and take some samples and fly the drone to take pictures of the terrain. Unfortunately, the wind picked up and we decided not to take out the drone. Still, we planned to collect samples of stratified layers.

Once we stepped out and climbed the first hills the weather changed, and the team could only collect one sample out of the planed 4 of the stratified layers.

The team returned after 50 min. The fog inside the helmet made it very hard to climb down the mountain. Still, the day will be used to do an analysis of the samples, to prepare astronomy observation, maintain the Hab, water the GreenHab, and start the first videos about life on Mars. We also met yesterday’s goal of using only one loft tank of water.

One lesson learned is that data and water are currently our most precious resources and more measures to protect these resources have to be taken.

After the work is done and all reports are submitted the crew 205 will have a movie night.

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 12-FEB-2019

Sol 2

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: EVAs EVAs…

Second day on Mars we woke up with the smell of scrambled eggs and spam and self-made brownies that we prepared last night.

As a lesson learned we started to prepare earlier today for the morning EVA to collect rock samples.

The EVA 1 crew: Nathan, Daniel, Natalia and Maria left the hab at 0930AM. First, EVA1 crew took some pictures with signs for outreach before heading to the White Moon area using the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

The road was windy, and every corner revealed a new area of Mars. Opportunity rover was doing great whereas the Spirit rover concerned EVA1 crew more, as the State of Charge seems to be dropping fast. Therefore, EVA1 had to stop earlier than planned to start walking by foot and leave the rovers behind.

Finding the White Moon seems to be more challenging than earlier EVAs as the road was not properly marked and the helmets of the space suits kept fogging and limiting visibility. EVA1 lost communication with the hab because they were out of reach of the communication system, which added more challenges.

During this walk the blazing Sun revealed shimmers and flashes of light from the crews´ visors that were actually shiny rocks (believed to be quartz containing crystals) underneath their feet. They stopped to retrieve these jewels in the desert as their first sample of the day.

EVA1 crew kept on walking, stopping from time to time to figure out where they actually were until they arrived at their desired location: White Moon. The white soil of the hill they stopped on let us guess why they called it the Moon. Small stains of red underneath the chalk-white hill intrigued the crew, and a short hit with the hammer revealed a bright red soil underneath. Described as a geological “red velvet cake”, it was great for their samples.

The curiosity kept running through EVA1 crew veins and let them keep moving anuntil they found crevice. Everyone of that EVA got so excited as this indicated that there had been water running through this land a long time ago. Two crew members climbed down into the crevice to take samples of the different sediments.

While EVA1 were busy in the White Moon, the rest of the crew were busy working in the hab. The crew astronomer was busy working on photometry and setting up new observation for tonight. Work in the GreenHab was also ongoing by watering the plants and making sure everything is in place.

Pumped up with excitement of their discoveries, the crew went back towards the hab where the support crew welcomed them with a hot chicken soup.

Just one hour later after EVA1 crew arrived EVA2 crew was about to get ready. During the preparation it was clear that not all space suits are working properly, and we are unclear on how long they have to be charged before being used again.

As there were not enough spare suits that not had been used before, or where the fans are running properly, the commander came to the decision that the EVA2 has to be scrubbed. It was a tough call but Safety first.

After that first difficult decision the team meeting was all about how to improve the EVA preparation to achieve two EVAs a day that would accommodate all our science objectives. During the analysis of the first rock samples in the science dome it was observed that the state of charge of the solar panels dropped significantly and that was a wakeup call for everyone:

Mars is not easy it is hard.

We have to keep more focus on the maintenance of the habitat while being focused on our personal goals. Still the crew found time for their first yoga sessions and preparing for the Martian Spanish night with tapas and Spanish jamón.

Tomorrow we will be planning for two EVAs again and making sure to keep checking and preparing accordingly.

Ad Astra!

Crew 205 Crew Journalist Report 12-FEB-2019

Sol 2

Author: Maria Grulich

Title: EVAs EVAs…

Second day on Mars we woke up with the smell of scrambled eggs and spam and self-made brownies that we prepared last night.

As a lesson learned we started to prepare earlier today for the morning EVA to collect rock samples.

The EVA 1 crew: Nathan, Daniel, Natalia and Maria left the hab at 0930AM. First, EVA1 crew took some pictures with signs for outreach before heading to the White Moon area using the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

The road was windy, and every corner revealed a new area of Mars. Opportunity rover was doing great whereas the Spirit rover concerned EVA1 crew more, as the State of Charge seems to be dropping fast. Therefore, EVA1 had to stop earlier than planned to start walking by foot and leave the rovers behind.

Finding the White Moon seems to be more challenging than earlier EVAs as the road was not properly marked and the helmets of the space suits kept fogging and limiting visibility. EVA1 lost communication with the hab because they were out of reach of the communication system, which added more challenges.

During this walk the blazing Sun revealed shimmers and flashes of light from the crews´ visors that were actually shiny rocks (believed to be quartz containing crystals) underneath their feet. They stopped to retrieve these jewels in the desert as their first sample of the day.

EVA1 crew kept on walking, stopping from time to time to figure out where they actually were until they arrived at their desired location: White Moon. The white soil of the hill they stopped on let us guess why they called it the Moon. Small stains of red underneath the chalk-white hill intrigued the crew, and a short hit with the hammer revealed a bright red soil underneath. Described as a geological “red velvet cake”, it was great for their samples.

The curiosity kept running through EVA1 crew veins and let them keep moving anuntil they found crevice. Everyone of that EVA got so excited as this indicated that there had been water running through this land a long time ago. Two crew members climbed down into the crevice to take samples of the different sediments.

While EVA1 were busy in the White Moon, the rest of the crew were busy working in the hab. The crew astronomer was busy working on photometry and setting up new observation for tonight. Work in the GreenHab was also ongoing by watering the plants and making sure everything is in place.

Pumped up with excitement of their discoveries, the crew went back towards the hab where the support crew welcomed them with a hot chicken soup.

Just one hour later after EVA1 crew arrived EVA2 crew was about to get ready. During the preparation it was clear that not all space suits are working properly, and we are unclear on how long they have to be charged before being used again.

As there were not enough spare suits that not had been used before, or where the fans are running properly, the commander came to the decision that the EVA2 has to be scrubbed. It was a tough call but Safety first.

After that first difficult decision the team meeting was all about how to improve the EVA preparation to achieve two EVAs a day that would accommodate all our science objectives. During the analysis of the first rock samples in the science dome it was observed that the state of charge of the solar panels dropped significantly and that was a wakeup call for everyone:

Mars is not easy it is hard.

We have to keep more focus on the maintenance of the habitat while being focused on our personal goals. Still the crew found time for their first yoga sessions and preparing for the Martian Spanish night with tapas and Spanish jamón.

Tomorrow we will be planning for two EVAs again and making sure to keep checking and preparing accordingly.

Ad Astra!